Shouldn't the way we share research be as advanced as the Internet?

Digital Scholarship

How scholarship is being transformed

For most scholars, the ways research is conducted, conveyed, and shared are far different today than just a few years ago. Yet these changes only hint at the technology-driven transformation of scholarship that is on the horizon.

An information-rich environmentMany of yesterday’s limitations on research and learning are being swept away by the Internet. It presents an opportunity for unlimited dissemination of information at virtually no cost beyond that of providing it to the first reader.

New tools for collaborationBy seamlessly linking data, knowledge, and scholars, the emerging research environment promises to stimulate and accelerate discovery — and ultimately to fuel advances beyond the realm of scholarship.

Funders support sharingNot surprisingly, governments and funding agencies around the world are recognizing that dissemination of research results is part of the research process itself. Many are implementing or exploring policies to facilitate the sharing of information and realize the benefits of digital scholarship.

Embracing digital scholarshipThe opportunities and competitive demands of scholarship in this new environment are here to stay. Practices that made sense in the print environment must now be reconsidered and adapted to the possibilities of digital scholarship.

Distress signals

As an academic researcher, you’ve probably had reactions
like these to the barriers — large and small — that impede
your work. To fully benefit from digital scholarship, it is
important that these kinds of distractions be reduced or
eliminated.

Internet

"I just found out my library doesn’t subscribe to a journal that published one of my works, so I can’t get to it through the Internet. I thought the Internet was supposed to make it easier for people to find and read my work."